In this Issue... The Cabletow Centennial Staff VW JESUS FLOR R. NICOLAS Editor-in-Chief WB EDMUND CORONEL Associate Editor From the Grand East VW PERCIVAL T. SALAZAR Managing Editor 2 A Centennial of Magnanimous Spirit By MW Santiago T. Gabionza, Jr. VW EMMANUEL J. DIESTA Circulation Manager Pro Bono Fraternitatis 4 A “Day in the Life of a Lodge BRO JOSE EUGENIO B. ILLENBERGER By MW Danilo Angeles, PGM, GS Art Director News MW REYNATO S. PUNO, PGM, GMH 8 Consultant JENNIFER C. MAGALLANES Cover Story Secretary 17 Goodwill marked the GLP Centennial Milestone 22 Malinao Lodge No. 50 Centennial About the Cover Special Feature The cover features memorable shots from the Special Communications commemorat- Philippine Freemasonry Before 1896 23 ing the Centennial Anniversary of the Grand By WB Edmund Coronel Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons of the Philippines on December 19, 2012. The top District Conventions picture shows Centennial Grand Master MW 59 The Masonic Heartlands Santiago T. Gabionza, Jr. presiding over the By VW Jovy Magbanua, HEAAGM Rededication Ceremonies of the Grand Lodge in the morning. Photo below shows MW Ga- bionza, the Past Grand Masters and Special Feature Guest, Paquito Ochoa, Jr., Malacanan Execu- 64 The Widow’s Son in You tive Secretary, toasting the brethren at the By Bro. Ariston B. Samilin Fiesta Pavilion in Manila Hotel after dinner. Community Service 65 NCR-B gives free medical mission In Due Form 65 The End THE CABLETOW is a bimonthly publication of the Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted By Bro. Jonathan R. Amoroso Masons of the Philippines. Main Office: Plaridel Masonic Temple, San Marcelino St., Ermita, Manila, D 2801, Philippines. Members of Blue Lodges in this grand jurisdic- tion are regular subscribers thereto. Brethren in other grand jurisdictions are invited to subscribe to it at US $20 a year. Send check payable to the Grand Lodge of Free & Announcements Accepted Masons of the Philippines, with complete mailing address, to THE CABLE- 67 TOW at the address given above. Subscribers are advised to notify THE CABLETOW of address changes. Original articles are subjected to editing and, when published, become Cabletow property. Any article in THE CABLETOW may be reprinted in full, or excerpts thereof reproduced, provided proper attribution to the author is made, Out of the Humdrum the source is given due credits, and the Cabletow office is furnished with a courtesy 68 A Lodge of Magicians—Really copy of the reprinted material. By VW Robert Asuncion Paid advertisements are accepted for printing in THE CABLETOW. The Cabletow | Vol. 89, No. 4, November-December 2012 1 From the Grand East By MW Santiago T. Gabionza, Jr. Centennial Grand Master A Centennial of Magnanimous Spirit In the month of the Grand Lodge Centennial, MW Gabionza stresses the magnanimous spirit underlying the history of the GLP— something every Filipino Mason must be proud of. The Centenary has now come with the patience of Job? The greatness upon us. We have made it through. And we of our Filipino predecessors was to tackle now come of age. the situation with a big heart and a sharp mind without straying from the Masonic It greatly pleases us to know that course—especially, when they were pitted we have arrived this far. Perhaps, we are against fellow Masons. For five years, the just too glad that we have not been there Gran Consejo, with then Batangas House to face and wrestled with what our prede- Representative MW Teodoro Kalaw as cessors have gone through. On December Grand Master, had petitioned Madrid for 19, 1912, three American lodges—Manila a breakaway and recognition as a Grand Lodge No. 342, Cavite Lodge No. 350 and Lodge in its own right. Not until Miguel Corregidor Lodge No. 386—were okayed Morayta, Past Grand Master and the kind- and acknowledged by the Grand Lodge of hearted patron of Filpino Freemasons, California to become the “Grand Lodge of died on January 24, 1917. Only then did the Philippine Islands” (or GLPI). That, Kalaw sat down with the GLPI with then actually, was a brutal swipe at the 20 or Commissioner Manuel Luis Quezon and so Filipino-Hispanico lodges grouped to- businessman Tomas Earnshaw negotiat- gether under the Gran Consejo Regional ing. An agreement for a union was sealed. (Regional Grand Lodge) paying obedience to the Gran Oriente de España. And to the But on February 13, 1917, the other lodges of other grand jurisdictions day before the Annual Communication, which had settled down in the Philippine the GLPI committee—composed of Past valley, too. Grand Masters Eugene Stafford and New- ton Comfort and incoming Grand Master Were we to place ourselves in William Taylor—all changed their minds. their shoes, what would we do? Would we They demanded an affiliation—that was, snap back with a reflexive vengeance or outsiders (not equals) coming in. The punitive wrath? Or would we bear it all Three Lights of the Gran Consejo lodges 2 The Cabletow | Vol. 89, No. 4, November-December 2012 had to take an oath before the Altar. Every- time administers the ageing which supplies body had to fill up an affiliation form. next the beauty and grace. The Filipinos surrendered. But The founding of the GLP in 1912 Quezon, the master politician, had all the comes rough and heavy at the start; so Lights gathered and sworn at Hotel Fran- much so that it rings heavily with under- cia at Escolta, and all affiliation forms filled tones of racial supremacy . Some national- up, all through the night. The following ist Brethren frowned at the event. But the day, the Americans stepped into a route. greatness of our Filipino predecessors was Compliant, the former Gran Consejo Ma- to quickly evade the constriction of reason sons were admitted to the GLPI. They and passion. Just as the reverse, they went were already privileged to vote. But the for the bigness of the heart, and the sharp- problem was, there were 27 Filipino lodg- ness of the mind which perhaps, even for es; the GLPI, only 10. The Americans were reasons unknown to them, had stoked the doomed. The days of the American Grand sparks of magnanimity deep in themselves. Masters were over too soon. The Filipinos comprised a huge and powerful voting bloc. Hence, regardless how vanquished in war they were, yet it had come oddly but The Americans were expecting very inspiringly that a people who had lost a massacre at the balloting. But Incom- so much—the war, their nation—could ing Grand Master William Taylor was give so much fraternal generosity. A fra- elected unanimously. It meant that all the ternal generosity that earned the respect Filipinos went for him. Greatly surprised, of people who looked down upon them. he rushed to Quezon asking how it all hap- A magnanimity that proved that it wasn’t pened. Explaining that the voting turnout by might or wealth; rather by the radiance was the will and pleasure of the Brethren, of Masonic spirit from within which had Quezon nailed Taylor to a deal that lasted dispelled the gloom and make beauty shine for 62 years. “There shall be a rotation in out. the Office of Grand Master. You are Grand Master this year, I am to be the next, and Be proud, Brethren, of the mag- thereafter each American holder of the of- nanimous Masonic spirit which has not fice will be followed by a Filipino Grand only saved, but also sustained the Grand Master,” he said. Lodge of the Philippines over this past one hundred years. “A people who had lost so much— the war, their nation—could give so much fraternal generosity.” SANTIAGO T. GABIONZA, JR. Centennial Grand Master That is the beauty of our GLP Centenary. A lodge never rises in a day. That’s why we count the days and mark the time. Where some things come bold or gaudy, yet the elements, which are nature’s ubiquitous agents, apply the strokes and polishes that give objects their shape while The Cabletow | Vol. 89, No. 4, November-December 2012 3 Pro Bono Fraternitatis By MW Danilo Angeles, PGM Centennial Grand Secretary A “Day” in the Life of a Lodge The Grand Sec deals here with vacancies in and lapses by the East which every lodge must know—before it’s too late. The Grand Lodge of Free & Accept- they will have someone to talk to.” ed Masons, this body governing 18,000 Now, back to business. Filipino Freemasons, is now 100 years old. It has come of age. Vacancy in the East But what’s in an age, after all? Ob- In my previous column, I wrote that I viously, the Grand Lodge has now be- would deal next with the businesses that often come across the Grand Secretary’s come a totally Filipino institution, a table. Since the month of December is giv- clear departure from the ways of its en to Lodge Elections, I will pick out cases American founders in 1912. It’s not that present relevance, as much as valuable perfect. It has its flaws. Like any man- lessons, to the newly-elected officers; par- made institution, it has its high and ticularly, the Masters of the Lodge. low moments. But by all accounts— and trust me on this—it cares for the Fili- One communication deals with the va- pino Brethren despite sporadic hiccups. I cancy of the Master’s station in a certain should know. This is your Grand Secre- lodge. Lodge X has installed WB Doroteo tary speaking. (not his real name) in February. But over the next 6 months, WB Doroteo has never sat in the East, or even showed up in the So, bring out the champagne and lodge, to assume his duties and powers.